Throwout bearing going bad
 

Today sitting in traffic my car stalled out. I may have released the clutch without realizing I was in gear but I don't remember exactly, it just seemed weird that I stalled. I started the car back up and instantly felt something was not right. When I initially touch the clutch pedal (hardly pressing it) I hear a metal\metal contact sound and my rpms drop to around 500. It also feels like the clutch is engaging at a different location. While in gear and driving, the car drives completely fine.

Called my local suby dealer where I bought the car and they quoted me at $3500-$4000 for clutch/flywheel/throwout bearing replacement. I am calling a local performance shop that has a good reputation in my area to see what they can do. Have any of you guys had any issues with your throwout bearing/clutch, if so what did you pay for replacement? My car is just over 100k miles.

There have been a few scattered problems with throw out bearings. That said if your on the original clutch and what not at 100k it would not be unheard of for the bearing to be going.

Few scattered problems? This is one of the most common issues reported with these cars.


It is odd for it to go instantly like that though. There is usually a slow build up of symptoms before they go completely bad.
Not exactly sure why they feel the need to change the clutch and flywheel without even taking a look. Things have to go really bad before hitting that point. Not a bad idea to change the clutch while it is apart but doing the flywheel my be gross overkill.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=116579


The Subaru layout makes it relatively easy to pull the motor. It only takes about two hours on the older models.

A clutch kits on the ej series is 400ish for oem parts from most eBay oem outlets plus the manifold gaskets. I haven't priced the fa stuff but it should be similar.

Called a local performance shop (Procom, Toms River NJ). They quoted me at $2500 including Exedy OEM replacement clutch (w\ TOB) and resurfacing flywheel. They said if the clutch does not need to be replaced it can be returned, but at my mileage I figured while they are in there, may as well go for it.


Is $2500 a reasonable price, or should I shop around more? Sounds a lot better than my dealership price of $3500-$4000.

Never go to dealers for anything other than warranty.

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I have only been to the dealership when I bought the car and to buy OEM oil filters. My car has never been touched by anyone but myself in $100k miles.


They were my first call and am definitely not going there. Just want to know if $2500 is reasonable for this job or am I getting shafted there, too?

I guess I need to read more threads then because I have only heard of 6 instances or so since being on here.

That's still high considering Exedy OEM clutch kit is about $250-300 USD. I'm not sure what the labour rate is but anything above 8 hours is excessive.

There are easily 100 or more people that have had issues. Still a small percentage when you look at the number of cars but enough to call it a known issue.

Still sounds a little high.
Check this out:
http://repairpal.com/estimator/clutch-replacement-cost

The shop is really nice inside and out with a solid reputation for Subaru's. But yea, paying $1000 over what I should be I do not like. Do shops allow negotiation? I never go to shops for work.

I just emailed them for a copy of the quote and I guess I heard wrong. Quote is $1143! Sold

Depends on how you negotiate alot of the time. Most shops mark up parts so asking to supply all the parts if the shop allows it will generally be your best bet when it comes to "negotiating". That said quite a few shops won't let you supply the parts for the 2 following obvious reasons.

1. They make money on the mark up.
2. To many customers bring in the wrong parts/bad parts and then get upset when 1000mi down the road the car has the same issue and tries to blame it on the shop not the shit/wrong parts they supplied.